HIPERLAN/2 (see for example “HIPERLAN/2—The Broadband Radio Transmission Technology Operating in the 5 GHz Frequency Band”, by Martin Johnson, HIPERLAN/2 Global Forum 1999, v.1.0) is a centrally controlled time-division multiple access, time-division duplex (TDMA/TDD) system with the capability of sending data from a central access point (AP) to mobile terminals (MT's), receiving data from the MT's and synchronising the transmission of data directly between the MT's. The AP transmits bursts of data in the form of medium access control (MAC) frames, each of which comprises individual sections. The first individual section is a broadcast channel (BCH) section. It is important for the MT's to be able to recognise a BCH section quickly after the start of operation, so that they can synchronise their operation to the AP. For this purpose, the BCH section has, at the beginning, a preamble formed by a unique sequence of complex data. Other sections within the frame also include identifying preambles comprising different data sequences.
An individual preamble can be recognised by feeding the received data to a filter which is matched to the known complex data pattern.
However, it would be desirable to provide an improved technique for preamble detection which gives more reliable results even under extreme radio channel signal conditions exhibiting noise, multi-path interference and clipping. It would also be desirable to provide a technique which can readily be adapted for detecting different kinds of data sequences.